Many orthopedic surgeries are complex events with several steps. The need for precise alignment and placement of components often requires the surgeon to take several measurements and/or use several different resection guides and other instruments to ensure that components are properly placed. The resulting surgery can be very long, and each step may introduce additional potential for errors.
For example, total knee replacement (“TKR”) surgical procedures are complex and require numerous cutting and alignment jigs to perform accurate tissue resections. Preparing and placing cutting and alignment jigs is often the most significant part of the TKR procedure, often introducing errors in the TKR procedure.
This is important because the TKR prosthesis must be accurately implanted to ensure that the joint surfaces of the TKR prosthesis are properly aligned. If the alignment is inaccurate, this misalignment can compromise function of the TKR joint and eventually lead to failure, requiring a major revision to the TKR joint that will most likely be costly and time consuming.
A surgeon may use a variety of jigs to guide the cutting of femoral, tibial, and/or patellar bones. These jigs are complex and expensive devices that require significant time and skill to properly locate and attach to the patient so accurate resections to the femoral, tibial, and/or patellar bones may be made. Accordingly, systems and methods that reduce this complexity and expense in TKR surgical procedures would be very desirable.